It’s been reported before how Pukka Pies is proud of its traditional family heritage.

It was launched by Trevor Storer in 1963 – the first product was the steak and kidney pie, and his wife Valerie produced the recipe for the chicken and mushroom pie.

Trevor would even hand out the ubiquitous Pukka Pies branded open/closed signs you still see hanging on chippy doors today.

In the early 90s, Trevor passed the reins on to sons Tim and Andrew who continued to build it up.

In fact, it was even Tim who came up with tongue-in-cheek posters featuring couples tucking into an all beef pie in bed and newlyweds sharing a steak and kidney and glass of champers in the back of a limo.

What self-respecting chip shop owner wouldn’t want one of those gracing their walls?

Those family ties are summed up even better by the faux Renoir painting in the reception of the Syston factory.

Rachael Bouch, chief executive of Pukka Pies (Image: Chris Gordon)

In it, the French Impressionist, his friends and family have been replaced by the Storers and their families.

At the centre is a perfect Pukka Pie.

With such a close knit act to follow, it must have been with some trepidation that Rachael Bouch accepted the job of chief executive last year.

Tim and Andrew, while taking more of a back seat, are still very much part of the business and she is keen to point out that family values remain central to the Pukka story.

The 360 staff, she said, are also treated like family – some of them are second and even third generations to work there.

And a new £8 million marketing campaign has the family at its core, with TV ads featuring a mum coping with the stresses of life with a heartwarming pie on a plate.

Speaking in her office above the Syston production floor, Rachael told me: “I’ve been here four years and came in as general manager.

“Tim and Andrew were looking for someone to run the business on a day-to-day basis and with experience in the retail side of things.

“They wanted someone with a corporate background because there is now so much more competition out there – something we have a healthy respect for.

While continuing to look after the chip shops and football grounds that make up 35 million Pukka Pie sales each year, the business wants to vastly build on the 25 million pies which go into our shops.

Rachael wants even more supermarkets to stock their products and for shoppers to think of Pukka first when it comes to pies.

She said: “We’ve never really shouted about what we do and we make great products and want more people to try us.”

Originally from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, she graduated in English and European literature at Essex University, before joining a graduate scheme at Ford. She loved it.

Working in sales and finance, she was based in Dagenham, at Ford’s technical centre in Dunton, in Essex, and at the head office in Brentwood.

She was even working in Detroit when the Mondeo was launched.

After several years with the car giant, she moved into food with Campbells in Kings Lynn – again in financial and sales roles – before joining Premier Foods, working in areas such as canned and chilled foods.

The 360 staff, she said, are also treated like family – some of them are second and even third generations to work there. (Image: Chris Gordon)

Then came Pukka – and she loved the idea of moving from a big corporate to a smaller family business.

Rachael said: “Tim was 25 and Adam was 28 when they were made joint MDs.

“We have had 53 years of profit and growth which is testament to the fact that they ran the business incredibly well for 25 years.

“They both now operate in a non-executive capacity, and still have an active interest in the company.

“I think I have been very lucky because I had a sort of apprenticeship alongside them for three years.

“I have got ambitious growth plans, but saying that we have always grown and growth means stability.

“We are a big part of Syston and protecting that means we have to keep moving forward to be competitive.

“I felt the weight of that hugely when I was made chief executive a year ago and I want to protect the business.”

Dig beneath the surface and there is a psychology behind Britain’s love of the pie.

Pukka’s all steak is the nation’s number one, while steak and kidney is still a big deal at football matches.

You can't have too much of a good thing (Image: Chris Gordon)

Rachael said there was more of a propensity for pies to be sold in chip shops within a 90-mile radius of Leicester – less so further afield.

In the far north they like shortcrust pastry, but Pukka is proud of its 144 layers of puff pastry – one of the few products its sells on to other bakeries.

It all makes Pukka Pies the country’s number one supplier of pies by a “country mile”.

Pukka added a big extension to its Syston site in 1998.

There are no plans to move, and more than enough room, using new technology, to make 1 million pies a week, rising to 1.3-1.4 million in the colder months.

Many of the workers are local, and the business expects to create more posts in the coming months.

Rachael said: “Marketing is central to growth, and we haven’t invested much in that in the past.

“We have done low level stuff, but to spend £8 million is huge for any brand, let alone one in the pie category.

“We want to tell people that we are made in Leicestershire, that we are a family business and have been improving the product.”

Improvements were made to the chicken and mushroom pies last year, followed by adding bigger chunks and more gravy to the all steak pies this year.

Come the autumn there will be other improvements, though all will be true to the original flavours and have taken a lot of time and energy to get right.

Rachael said: “We started out by doing benchmarking – looking at the competition, and what we saw was that that competition keeps moving.

“It’s like people moving from fast food burgers to gourmet burgers. It’s the same with pies, which need to reflect consumer taste.

“We think there is a lot of growth potential in the market.

“Our main competition is own-label pies and we want customers to try us so that we can show them we really care about the ingredients. There are millions to go after.

“One of the measures of top four products is to be in 90 per cent of supermarkets. We are in 50-60 per cent at the moment. You also start thinking of having the best space on the shelf.”

She said the new TV advert had been well received and the £8 million marketing investment would be followed by further heavy investment in future years.

She expects turnover of £47 million for the year to the end of next May – up from £44.8 million.

With investment in marketing raising awareness of the brand, she would like to see further growth of 5-10 per cent.

Rachael said: “We have not got shareholders, and are in it for the long-term and want to do the right thing. We are already highly automated and investing for success.

"There will be new products, but our strategy for the next two or three years is growing the core, which is pies.”